A few extras:

 The two littlies experimented with bicarb and droppers filled with vinegar.  Of course one must wear goggles at all times if you are experimenting :)

Weighing household objects, comparing and understanding grams and kilograms

 Online maths

 Obligatory cupcake decorating

 The Boy and Panda girl chose some toys to freeze overnight....

...and then had huge fun the following day smashing the ice and 'saving' the toys

 ...they especially enjoyed using droppers filled with hot water to melt the ice.

 Ballet Girl and Monkey Girl made a solar system for their bedroom...

And then my wonderful, awesome son turned four!!

 Due to the incredible generosity of a few people I was able to get him an Octopod for his Birthday.  'Delighted' was an understatement.

We are still having snow but we are making the most of it when the sun shines!

St. Patrick's Day

The Normans and The Feudal System / and The Middle Ages

Later on in the year we will visit a castle to round off this unit, but for now we've had a great three weeks learning the ins and outs of the Feudal System and its beginnings; the three stages of becoming a knight and their duties, jousting and the origins of Heraldry; the structures of castles and fortresses and defending and attacking; and Medieval life for serfs, knights, nobles and royalty.  It was a unit all four children enjoyed due to the vast array of resources available on the subject and the blossoming interest my youngest son is developing in all things castle-related.  

A few Medieval craft ventures:

View from our house.  We are blessed.

The Boy is loving this unit.  A castle in the classroom was the next obvious step.

He loved it.

I found this idea for a trebuchet on Pinterest and copied it.  I can't believe 1) I actually managed to make it and 2) how well it works!

Set up for a morning attack.  I heard the Boy exclaim in delight when he went downstairs, followed by "got you!" and "we're gonna get your castle".

Ballet Girl did a fantastic job making one too.

 This was a hit!

After a morning at Nursery followed by Storyclub, the Boy snuggled up in his fort and listened to his story cd.

I spent a good hour with the older two discussing the Feudal System, manor house estates and the 3 stages of becoming a knight, after which they did some lovely worksheets I partly created and partly got from around the internet.  

Today we also studied Mendelssohn and looked at photos and videos of Fingal's Cave, while we listened to his Hebrides Overture.  We have a great picture of Grandad at Fingal's Cave when he went there with Mummy when she was younger.  We had a look at Cossack dancing and Iguasu Falls after Panda Girl came across them both in her geography work.  Ballet Girl and  Monkey Girl progressed with their map-work and all three girls worked on their English (personifications, verbs and spellings respectively).  Monkey Girl spent six hours reading today.  She devours her books.

This morning the kiddlets studied Spring poetry and wrote their own Spring themed poems.  I loved them!; We talked about pitch and vibration, hertz and decibels in their Science - and Monkey Girl experimented with creating sounds with elastic bands, pots, jars and fabrics (tighter = higher, looser, thicker = lower pitch);  Ballet Girl did some word problems making fractions into percentages;  Panda Girl drew a sweet life-cycle of a broad bean;  The Boy had a friend over to play this afternoon and also did some cute Mother's Day craft at his pre-school.  And we all learnt about Henry I, youngest son of William the Conqueror and his terrible grief upon hearing of the drowning of his son and heir, Prince William.

And this afternoon????  After a LONG winter full of snow and ice and below freezing temperatures, the crocuses poked through the grass today and the sky was blue, blue, blue.  The children celebrated by spending the entire afternoon outside - and I eventually dragged the oldest two back in at 8pm, from a pitch-black game of jousting or some such Medieval lark :)

Hello Spring!!!!!

Today we looked at Heraldry and its origins and then how it spread from knights to families and estates, to peasants and merchants, to towns and cities, each wanting to have its own poignant identity.  The children found the symbolic meanings of the animals and colours fascinating and created their own designs for their own Coat of Arms.

Monkey Girl made this awesome castle rat :)

 The Boy made a King...

...and showed how well he is getting on with his mazes.

They spent over an hour in the garden riding their bicycles (aka horses) and pretending they were in a jousting tournament (n.b. I thought perhaps that the 'no literal lancing of other people' rule should apply here and thus enforced it  before the tournament began :)

Panda Girl made a jester...

...and a gorgeous shield with her designed Coat of Arms on it.

And we also made our own jousting tournament field

Monkey Girl made a super Coat of Arms with symbolic designs she found relevant to her...

 ...here she is looking brave with her knight visor she created last week while the rest of us 'rested' with a tummy bug.

A few worksheets to remember the facts

Ballet Girl opted for a simple Coat of Arms...

...and also worked hard on similes, metaphors and personifications

 Ballet Girl designed this :)  ...

... and drew this.

Panda Girl made a Medieval Headdress

...and she also drew this castle and painted it with water-colour.

Monkey Girl painted this one :)

 The Boy requested a cooking session and found this recipe in his book...

...we had no jam so we used marmalade instead.  Scrumtious. Ballet Girl helped him with the whole thing.

Sorting for The Boy

A new way to use the bead board.

 I am overjoyed that my Panda Girl has discovered the joys of reading.  It 'clicks' in their own good time.  

I thought we could start collecting and painting jars to put candles in for a Summer evening.  Here is our first batch.  

Monkey Girl helped The Boy make a knight mobile. :)